Imperialism - Pacific, Asia, and Legacies (925-939)

A. European Imperialism in the Pacific:

-Imperialism in the Pacific took two main forms--in Australia and New Zealand they established settler colonies and dominant political institutions. And in most of Pacific Islands, they sought commercial opportunities and reliable bases for operations.
-During the late 19th century, Europeans began imposing direct colonial rule on the Pacific islands.
-Europeans traveled to the southern continent of Australia in large numbers only after the Pacific voyages of Captain James Cook.
-1770: Cook anchored ship in Botany Bay (near modern Sydney), and reported that in would be suitable for settlement.
-1788: British fleet of 1,000 settlers, mostly convicted criminals, established the Sydney harbor as New South Wales.--migrants supported themselves mostly by herding sheep.
-By 1830s, voluntary migrants outnumbered the criminals and in 1851, discovery of gold brought surge of migration to Australia.
-European settlers established colonies also in New Zealand--fertile soil and abundant stands of timber attracted attention of Europeans and drew large number of migrants.
-migrations rocked Australian and New Zealand societies--disease devasted indigenous peoples.
-Australian population fell from 650,000 in 1800 to 90,000 in 1900 and European population rose to 3.75 million.
-New Zealand population went from 200,000 to 45,000 and European population climbed to 750,000.
-Increasing migration also fueled conflict between European settlers and native population. Large settler societies pushed people from their lands and often followed by violent confrontations.
-British settlers considered Australia land belonging to no one--'terra nullius'--they could seize this land it put it to own uses.
-By 1900, British had displaced most indigenous peoples Australians from their homelands and dispersed them throughout continent.
-Representatives of British government encouraged Maori leaders in 1840 to sign treaty of Waitangi--designed to place New Zealand under British protection.
-The treaty signaled coming of British colonial control of New Zealand in 1841 and inspired effective and long lasting Maori opposition to British attempts to usurp land and sovereignty.
-Conflicts of land confiscations and disputed land sales sparked New Zealand Wars--series of military confrontations between the troops and settlers--extended from mid to late 19th century.
-1856, various Maori participating in Maori King Movement--forwarding unity and sovereignty.
-By the end of the 18th century, many Maori were forced into poor rural communities seperated from European settlements.
-Pacific islands mostly escaped fate of Australia and New Zealand, in means of being taken advantage of by European settlers.
-During 19th century, visitors to Pacific Islands were whalers, merchants, and missionaries.
-Through most of the 19th century, imperialist powers had little desire to establish direct colonial rule over Pacific islands.
-In the late 19th century, nationalist rivalries encouraged imperialist powers to stake claims in Pacific islands.
-Europeans sought reliable coaling stations for steamships and ports for navies.
-France established protectorate in Tahiti, Society Islands, and Marquesas and imposed direct colonial rule in 1880.
--They also annexed several Marshall islands in 1876 adn 1878.
-By 1900, only the kingdom of Tonga remained independent and even they accepted British protection against possibility of encroachment by other imperial powers.
-Pacific islands offered economic benefits to imperial powers, besides just being ports and coaling stations. Hawaii and Figi provided productive sugarcane plantations. Samoa, French Polynesia, and Melanesian and Micronesian islands were sources of copra-dried coconut.
-New Caledonia had rich veins of nickel and guano (bird droppings that made for good fertilizer) was also abundant in many small Pacific islands.
(KC) (edit by BD)

The Emergence of New imperial Powers

-Toward the end of the 19th century, the U.S. and Japan joined Europe in imperialism.
-U.S. Imperialism in Latin America and the Pacific
  1. U.S. leaders pursued their "manifest destiny" while pushing indigenous peoples onto marginal lands and reservations.
  2. U.S. President James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine, which served as a a justification for later U.S. intervention in hemispheric affairs.
  3. The U.S. bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 and annexed Hawaii in 1898. (KK)
-During the Spanish-Cuban-American War (1898-1899), US emerged as a major imperial power. The war emerged from anticolonian tensions in Cuba and Puerto Rico where US businesses had invenstments.
-1898: US battleship Maine sank in Havane harbor. Claimed sabotage and declared war on Spain. Spain was easily defeated and US then controlled Cuba and Puerto Rico.
-Also destroyed Spanish in Manila and took possession of Guam and the Philippines.
-Colonial governments formed in newly acquired lands, and the United States intervened in Caribbean and Central American affairs to prevent rebellion and protect new colonies.
-U.S. forces were in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Haiti in the 20th century.
-U.S. sided with a Filipino revolt against Spain to help them gain independence, but ended up trying to bring the Philippines under American control. They paid Spain twenty million dollars for the rights to the colony. Filipinos revolted, and many from both sides were killed.
(KR)
- Seeking to allow communication and transportation between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans the United States wanted ot build a canal in Central America. The United States then supported the rebellion against Columbia to form the breakaway state of Panama in 1903. The "Roosevelt Corrialry" granted the United States the right to intervene in the domestic affairs of nations within the hemisphere once they displyed that they weren't capable to maintain security to protect US investments.
(BD)

Imperial Japan [DN]

- After Japan's industrialization, Japanese resentful of European exploitation of the 1860's
- Founded representative political institutions, seeked to become world power, launched imperialistic campaign
- During 1870's, colonized nearby Asian islands, encouraged Japanese migration there to prevent Russian takeover
- (1876) Japan purchased new ships from Britain, Japanese assemble navy, take over Korea
- (1893) Korean rebellion v. foreigners, Japanese have substantial interests in Korea. Qing rulers sent army to take back Korea for China, Japan declares war on China
- Japan destroys China's navy in 5 hours, takes Yellow Sea. Qing forces expelled from Korea. After only a few months, Qing rulers recognize Korean independence,
so Korea becomes Japanese "colony"
- Qing also cede Taiwan and other lands to Japan, strengthens Japanese in Asian waters
- In 1890's, Japan prepares for conflict with Russia
- Russo-Japanese war in 1904, Japanese take Russian installations quickly before reinforcements arrive. Japanese navy destroys Russian fleet. War ends in 1905.
- Japan has international recognition after war. Russia also cedes land to Japan. Japan becomes major imperial power.



Legacies of Imperialism [BF]
-imperialism & colonialism also brought peoples into conflict & heightened senses of difference between peoples
-foreign intrusion stimulated the development of national identities in colonized lands & over time these national identites served as a foundation for anticolonial independence movements
Empire & Economy
-colonial admnistrators reorganized subject societies so they would become efficient suppliers of timber, rubber, petroleum, gold, silver, diamonds, cotton, tea, coffee, cacao & other products
-global trade in these commodities surged during the 19 & early 20th centuries

Economic & Social Changes (edit by CW)
-in India, the cultivators spun thread & wove their own cotton textiles or else supplied local artisans with raw materials
-colonial administrators reoriented the cultivation of cotton to serve the needs of the emerging British textile industry
-the value of raw cotton exported from India went from 10 million rupees in 1849 to 60 million rupees in 1860 & 410 million rupees in 1913
-British colonial officials introduced tea bushes from China to Ceylon & India
-British planters felled trees in much of the island, converted rain forests into tea plantations & recruited Ceylonese women by the 1000s to carry out the labor-intensive work of harvesting mature tea leaves
-the value of south Asian tea exports rose from about 309,000 pounds sterling in 1866 to 4.4 million pounds sterling in 1888 & 6.1 million pounds sterling in 1900

b. Labor Migrations
-Due to efforts to exploit natural resources and agricultural products of subject lands mass migrations of workers occurred during the 19th and 20th centuries
-Europeans mainly migrated to temperate lands, whereas Asians, Africans, and Pacific Islanders mainly moved to tropical and subtropical climates
-From 1800 to 1914 about fifty million Europeans migrated, most of them going to the United States in search of cheap land to cultivate
-Others went to Canada, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to cultivate of herd
-Many migrants from Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands traveled as indentured servants and worked in replacement of slaves that had recently left
-Indentured labor trade began in the 1820’s when France and Britain sent Indian migrants to work on sugar plantations
-After the Opium War, recruiters began to seek Chinese workers that went to work on sugar plantations, guano mines, tin mines, gold mines, and railroads

-These global migrations showed the influence of imperial powers
(DR)

Empire and Society (JL)

-Policies used by imperial powers and colonial officers forced different groups of people to interact regularly, which led to many outbreaks of violent conflicts.
-Colonized lands in SE Asia and Africa had many revolts against foreign rule/policy.
-Many rebellions were motivated by religious beliefs and religious leaders. For example, the participants of the Maji Maji rebellion in Tanganyika sprinkled themselves with "magic water" (maji maji) which supposedly made them invincible. They were massacred.
-Other forms of revolt included boycotting, political parties/ pressure groups, newspapers, religious gatherings.
-Colonial policies led to conflicts among peoples brought together artificially into multicultural societies.
-Social and cultural differences were used as the basis of an academic pursuit called scientific racism around the 1840's
-Divided the human race into distinct categories based off of skin color, bone structure, nose shape, cranial capacity, and other physical characteristics. Europeans were considered as the superior subclass of humans.
-Adapted much of Charles Darwin's theories of evolution in 1860's. Used this as justification for European domination.
-More common, popular views of racism did not need such scientific reasoning. They were based more on the reason that one was morally superior to the other.
-Each group tended to place themselves higher than the others in terms of race.
(edit by CW)